When you take advantage of Google Ads platform, you’ll create ads that will show up in the search networks when certain keywords are entered into the search box. Your ads could also appear in the Display Networks (i.e., publisher sites) in the form of text-links and display banners of different sizes.

With 28 billion hits per month, Google is the largest web portal in the world. It's even more important for your ad to appear in relevant searches near you.

Before we dive into the strategies you should implement, let’s do the needful:

Claim your Google My Business Page

Google My Business is an online tool that allows you to manage your local business and also aims to unify all the products that Google designed to support local businesses in the search.

To get started, visit the website and click on the “START NOW” button.

The idea is that through this platform you can access all the functionalities of Google products easily.

Since the focus is on local business listings, your business must have a physical address. That way, when people search for your kind of business in your city, town, or country, there’s a chance you’ll show up with an address.

Make sure your (N.A.P.) Business name, Address, and Phone Number are clearly shown on your website exactly as you claimed them on Google My Business during your listing. Ensure that these details are accurate because Google will ask you to confirm your phone number:

Google will also send a mail with a code to your physical address which you’ll use to complete your business listing.

When you receive the postcard, go back to your Google My Business dashboard and add it to complete the verification process.

With your address and phone number verified, customers can visit your office or call you.

In addition, if you dedicate time and effort to optimizing your listing in Google My Business, your business will likely show up in the Google Maps pack or other local search directories.

If you have successfully listed and claimed your local business in Google My Business, it’s time to use Google ads to promote it. Let’s consider proven strategies that work:

1. Use Location Targeting to Run Ads to Target Consumers in Specific Areas your Business Services

It’s become a lot easier to do so. With the location extension in Google Ads, you choose particular locations so that Google can show your ads to consumers near you, who are more likely to visit your store or office.

This is a great advantage for local searches because the business address appears just below the ad text.

Mobile location extension is also included in the ads. Clicking on the address will give the users of mobile devices the directions to your address.

2. Use Retargeting to Win Back Lost Potential Customers

Whether you call it retargeting or remarketing, it's usually about the same thing: Users who have visited your site but left without buying are to be reactivated with suitable ads.

The average click rate for retargeted ads is about 0.7% compared to display ads (0.07%). Interestingly, website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert as qualified leads and buyers.

To set it up, a retargeting tag or code must be installed. This is a code snippet that creates a cookie for visitors to a website that’s stored locally on the user's PC.

Retargeting is possible via the Google Display Network, text ads in the Google search network, YouTube and Facebook, for example. There, cookies can be recognized for retargeting and used for suitable advertising later.

Depending on the size of your business or budget, you can retarget different groups of customers.

If you’re into clothing, for example, you can retarget website users who indicated an interest in women’s jacket, another group would be men whose interest is shoes, you get the point.

Watchfinder, a luxury watch retailer retargeted 20 groups of people “who demonstrated intent to buy.” via Google Ads. In the end, the campaign a 13% average order value and recorded a 1,300% ROI.

3. Use Call-Only Campaigns in AdWords

With call-only campaigns, if a user clicks on your ad, it will not be redirected to your website, as it’s expected with a typical ad, but will make a call.

The call-only ads appear only on mobile devices with Internet functionality. The calls can be counted and documented as a conversion.

In Google’s view, a conversion occurs ONLY when the conversation has a duration of at least 10 seconds.

According to Google surveys, about 70% of mobile users are already using the “call” button to initiate the call. Google Ads advertisers received over 60 million calls in 2015 from Google call extension.

So there are a lot of potential customers to reach with the call-only campaign.

Remember that the call-only campaigns are optimized for devices with telephone functionality, so they will not appear in search results on tablets or iPods.

4. Choose the Right Device Types and Cater to Them

Google advertisers are finding it increasingly complex and difficult to effectively communicate with different target groups. Why? Because there are a lot of mobile devices that people access the internet with.

Meanwhile, Smartphone users make up a relevant part -- 88% of them conduct local searches on search engines.

It’s disturbing because different target groups are increasingly demanding individual solutions -- depending on the situation and context.

As part of this development, Google AdWords (now Google Ads) is changing the options for campaign settings, making it easier to customize for the different devices.

Where a distinction had to be made with the help of campaigns for desktop, tablet, and other mobile devices.

The solution is to upgrade to enhanced campaigns which makes it a lot easier to cater to your target audience irrespective of the devices they use.

5. Make Contact Information Predominant with Call Extensions and Location

The rules that apply to text ads often apply to call extensions as well. In addition, for extensions to be accurate and appropriate, Google requests additional requirements for the use of call extensions:

Correct telephone numbers: The telephone number you indicate in the call extension must be correct, active and relevant.

Verified phone numbers: The phone numbers of the ads must belong to your company.

Only national telephone numbers: The telephone number of the call extension must be a local or national number of the country being segmented.

Custom numbers are not allowed: Call extensions are not allowed to use personalized telephone numbers, except for company names that are real telephone numbers.

Here’s a good example:

Location extensions enable you to add useful information to your ad copy. You can include data such as address, location through maps, the distance from the physical store, telephone or even a call button to facilitate a first contact with the company.

6. Use Location Search Ads and Promoted Pins

When listing your business on Google My Business Pages, you’ll be prompted to provide information such as geographic location, telephone number, a list of products for sale, etc.

This is usually the first step toward increasing your local business search visibility in Google Maps. According to data from WordStream, over one billion people use Google Maps, and they use it to navigate to over 1.5 billion places YoY.

Another effective approach is to leverage “Sponsored Pins” or "Promoted Pins” of Google Maps. When a user walks the map and approaches the address, a red pin appears.

If you add special offers to this ad, you will maximize its impact and take potential customers to your online store. Aside from the online store, you can send people to your local store.

This is working well at the moment because consumers are starting to shop at nearby, family-owned stores again.

In an update carried out by Google, “Promoted Pins” have been incorporated so that when a search is made, for example, of an electronic store, the pin of the store close to where the user is located is indicated on the map, accompanied with a logo that represents the business.

7. Use Google Ads Display Networks to Reach Local Consumers

When you advertise on the Google Display Network, which aggregates more than 2 million websites and reaches more than 90% of worldwide users, your ads would appear on a large number of websites, mobile applications, and video content platforms. And it’s quite affordable.

For example, your ad can appear on Techcrunch, Mashable, FoodNetwork, similar to this:

To achieve your advertising goals, it is recommended that you implement different targeting metrics and methods.

This way, your ads are served to site users who can subscribe to your newsletter, download your ebook, buy your product, or sign-up to attend your webinar or live event.

Conclusion

Promoting your local business using Google Ads is an all-important decision you have to make.

You need to get involved before you can fully understand how it works, what to do to lower cost per acquisition and increase click rate (and ultimately, revenue).

It's a good idea to experiment and see what works for your business. Once your website is getting a decent amount of traffic, you need to focus on improving conversions. Because that’s what will grow your sales and revenue.

Enjoyed this post? Signup to get the latest in digital marketing, design, technology, automation and more great tips once a month. Unsubscribe anytime.

Marketing Strategist

I love helping small businesses with their digital marketing and business strategy. I'm a young man with a passion in entrepreneurship and international experience in business development, marketing, sales, and web/graphic design.

About Us

Bloominari is a San Diego based, full-service digital marketing and creative design agency dedicated to providing small businesses with solutions to increase their customer base and grow their brands and companies online.

Our team has the creative ideas, the ambitious drive and the know-how that only comes with more than a decade of experience.